Landmarks of Faith

Introduction

I am intrigued to see landmarks that signify a person or event. I am always curious to know why a specific landmark had been established and placed wherever it is. Our country is full of landmarks and monuments. The purpose of these landmarks is to remember an important event. It is to signify what happened. Often it is to honor one or a group for their significant contribution to a way of life in a certain area. A landmark is also used to help us go forward in a way to act on that which has been remembered.

Sometimes these landmarks help us remember something or someone that was heroic. Perhaps they gave their all for a purpose or cause. Sometimes these landmarks are the representation of something strong because of it life is better. Sometimes the landmarks have been established prayerfully thanking God for the accomplishment or victory. It seems that most monuments portray an act of selflessness where an individual or group decided they would sacrifice self in order to make a better life for those that followed.

If you had to put of a monument or landmark of your faith, what would that look like? Would it be heroic? Would it be a statement of strength? Would it signify a stance you have taken for those around you to have a better life?

What would our country be like if we decided that we would establish landmarks of our faith that would be evident in our daily lives?

Throughout scripture, I see three consistent areas which you and I would do well to make as our landmarks of faith.

Particularly, I see these landmarks outlined in .

1 Chronicles 16:8–29 NIV84

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, O descendants of Israel his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: “To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.” When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. He allowed no man to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: “Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm.” Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

The first landmark of faith I see in this passage that we can do is

Worship

Worship is defined as the reverent love and devotion accorded to a deity, an idol or sacred object. With that definition we could worship anything and everything. There are people that worship their jobs, worship sports teams, and worship all kinds of things that could be called sacred objects.

The Bible is very clear on what we should worship. The first and second of the ten commandments states emphatically

Exodus 20:3–6 NIV84

“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:3–4 NIV84

“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

Exodus 20:3-6

Exodus 20:3-4

You and I are designed to worship. We come in here week at 10:45 and we pray, we give thanks, we sing, we hear the word of God and we call that a worship service. Our worship should not be limited to just one hour a week. We should be be worshiping God daily and each moment we have breath!

This was the idea presented by the author of Chronicles.

You see, the author of this book was writing in neither the best time or the worst of times for the Jews. They had just returned from living in exile and in punishment. During this time of transition, they were challenged to give in to the temptation of doubting God’s promises and be disillusioned over past failures. Doesn’t that sound like our country today? We have ridden the wave of success and now we have come to this place in our lives where it is not the best of times and it is not the worst of times.

The people to which these words in Chronicles were written had at least six options:

They could settle down to a routine life and go through a religious routine that would not give them much hope.

They could develop a religion of legalism where laws and rules prevailed.

They could give up on God completely and grasp other religions in the world to find their inner being.

The could develop groups that would cut themselves off from the world and be isolated and wait for God to act.

The could develop a end of the world type theology determining precisely when and how the day of the Lord would occur.

They could study the history of their people, learn how they declined as a nation and as a faithful people, and renew their their commitment to worship and obedience to the Lord God, Author and Creator of all!

Do you see any parallels here? Our nation is at a crossroads and quite honestly we are doing 5 out of 6 of these options well! We have become a nation where we are so in the routine we forget how to see how to love those right in front of us. We have become a nation where our churches are so filled with legalism and rules that grace is not permitted. We have become a nation that has allowed other religions to so infiltrate us that we have lost the idea of what Truth is. We have become a nation where our churches, including this church, are so comfortable in where we sit each week we would be very upset if someone came in are sat in our spot. We have become a nation that has produced such strict judgement and condemnation that we fail to show others how much Jesus loves them.

Just like the words written in the Book of Chronicles, we can become a nation learns from the past, be a faithful people and renew our commitment to worship and obedience to the Lord God, Author and Creator of all.

So how do we do that?

First we begin at examining what we worship. What we worship becomes our main landmark of faith. This beautiful passage from tells us that our worship should consist of Thanking God. Calling on His Name. Glorying in His Name which is praising Him. Remembering the Wonders He has done. Sing to the Lord. I am so grateful that in our worship time each week we are able to do all of those things. I would invite you if you are not in the practice of doing so to not wait to do these things on Sunday morning. I would invite you to do them on every day that ends in “y.”

1 Chronicles 16:11 NIV84

Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.

1 Chronicles 16:

When we worship we are looking to the strength He has and we are able to see His Might and His Power. The Bible says here to “seek His face always.” This past week I was traveling through our state and was impressed to stop by a nursing facility where I and learned that a childhood friend was recovering from an illness. I had not seen him in 40 years, but I felt that God wanted me to stop in on him and say hello. I knocked on his door and walked in and said, “Do you know who I am?” He looked at me, his eyes widened, and while jumping up out of his bed he said, “Mitchell Marlowe....I can’t believe you are here! I would recognize that face anywhere!” Even though we had not been in the same room for 40 years, he still knew who I was. We had spent enough time together in our childhood that we could recognize each other.

The Bible tells us to “Look to the Lord and His strength and to seek His face always.” Do you recognize the face of God? When we truly worship God and spend time with Him on a daily basis, we will be able to seek His face always.

If our worship is true and right, we will not be able to contain it to ourselves. In fact, we will produce a second landmark of faith in our

Words

Verse 23 in this beautiful passage says

1 Chronicles 16:23 NIV84

Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.

1 Chronicles 16:23

You see part of the overflow of our worship is proclaiming His salvation. When is the last time that you shared with someone what God has done in you life? When is the last time you used your words to describe what you have experienced in your worship?

Psalm 145:6 NIV84

They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.

Psalm 145

Are your words helping others become acquainted with God?

Are your words helping others show your allegiance to God?

Are your words helping others show your adoration to God?

With worship as a landmark of our faith and with our words as a landmark of our faith, we will also have a third landmark of our faith that will be produced:

Works

In this passage we have listed the attributes of worship and the way our words help proclaim the salvation and love of our Lord. Notice the works which overflow:

We sing

We proclaim His good works

We declare His Glory

We come before Him

We bring an offering

Hebrews 13:15 NIV84

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Hebrews

And we also work to ASCRIBE to the Lord.

Ascribe means to attribute to a specified cause; to assign a quality or character.

When we ASCRIBE to the Lord we are able to do just like these verses describe:

1 Chronicles 16:28–29 NIV84

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

1 Chronicles 16:28

And look what happens when we do: we go back to worship!

That is why it so important to understand what and who we worship!

“When human beings give their heartfelt allegiance to and worship that which is not God, they progressively cease to reflect the image of God. One of the primary laws of human life is that you become what you worship; what’s more you reflect what you worship not only to the object itself but also outward to the world around.” N.T. Wright

In 1997, the contemporary Christian group 4 Him released a song that was called The Basics of Life. The words summarize this idea:

We've turned the page, for a new day has dawned We've re-arranged what is right and what's wrong Somehow we've drifted so far from the truth That we can't get back home

Where are the virtues that once gave us light Where are the morals that governed our lives Someday we all will awake and look back just to find what we've lost

[Chorus] We need to get back To the basics of life A heart that is pure And a love that is blind A faith that is fervently grounded in Christ The hope that endures for all times These are the basics, we need to get back To the basics of life

The newest rage is to reason it out Just meditate And you can overcome every doubt After all man is a God, they say God is no longer alive

But I still believe in the old rugged cross And I still believe there is hope for the lost And I know the rock of all ages will stand Through changes of time

[Chorus]

BRIDGE We've let the darkness invade us too long We've got to turn the tide Oh and we need the passion that burned long ago To come and open our eyes There's no room for compromise

We need to get back To the basics of life A heart that is pure And a love that is blind

[Chorus]

Songwriters: DONALD A. KOCH,MARK R. HARRIS

It is time for the people of God to rise up. Not reinvent the wheel, but to let others see Jesus in us.

We have heard in the news this slogan over and over again “Make America Great Again.”

We have heard in the news this slogan over and over again “Make America Great Again.”

Do you want to make America great again or do you want to make America know that God is great?

What are you doing with your worship that reveals your words and your works?

Here’s an idea:

Let’s come together on the church lawn for the July 4th parade and let’s bring a case of cold bottles of water and hand them out to people up and down the street. Let’s do something for our community because of our worship and use our words and our works to glorify God.